What's in a name?

Just had one of those wow discoveries today. I was reading Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw's "Jesus For President" for the second time, and came across their overview of the Exodus story. I am assuming you all know about this one. Both the old Ten Commandments movie staring Charlton Heston, and the Disney movie Prince of Egypt try and tell the story.

But as I was reading I discovered something I have never seen before:

Pharaoh's name is never given. Pharaoh is not a name, its a title. In the story we meet Moses, Aaron, Miriam but we never really meet the real Pharaoh, all he is, is a title.

So what does that have to do with anything? Well, if I told you this story, about the oppressive nation, and the leader of this nation that continued to hold a large majority of the nation in slavery, and poverty. But never named the guy, what does that do to the story? If I said the president, then did this, the president then did that, a very common response would be which president. Since this was not written as a newspaper article, but as religious history, a name would be expected.

But when we read this story, we find that a nation, and the nations highest office, is the hands that hold Israel in slavery. It is not an individual, but a corporate identity and its high office. And who opposses this nameless face of the corporate evil? An elderly shepherd, and fugitive from justice, who was dispossessed by the same corporate evil as a child. This is not a battle with an individual, but as the bible says later in Ephesians, but with principalities, and powers, and the rulers of darkness.

God delivers from the oppressive system, headed by an office that has been corrupted by the very power that was given him. In one of his essays, Noam Chomski says something like, "the problem with power, is that once you have it, you are forced to defend it" Pharaoh was not just a man, with a family, but the power of all of Egypt, and could not let that be compromised. He even loses his family in the process.

Hope that made some small amount of sense, makes lots of sense in my head.

rev

My own worst enemy

A few days ago someone told me that I am my own worst enemy. Not sure exactly what was meant by that in this particular case but it got me thinking...

Am I my own worst enemy?

Well, yeah I am. My ego, my insecurities, my own sense of entitlement they all conspire against me being more, being the change I want to see in the world. My anger, that only today flared up at a man who caused me to take an entire five seconds longer to cross an intersection. My own desires, my own greed, my own aspirations are all keeping me from being who I was made to be.

And if we go further, (without delving too far into the nature vs nurture thing), my hard default thinking that might makes right, the trust in redemptive violence, and oppression. It is at war with the creative intent of God, and the example and path of Jesus. Isn't this what Paul meant when he said in Romans Chapter 7:

21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

In the end I think we are all our own worst enemies. Maybe our own harshest critics, as well. Luckily, there is a Father, that delights in us, even in our frailties, failures and falling.

rev

My old neighborhood

even the grocery stores are hard.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/drug-busts-forced-syndicate-bosses-to-launder-cash-20080819-3y8j.html

rev

the gun shop

So a very good friend of mine likes to shoot paper targets, and even competes doing so. So when we were in the neighborhood, of one of his favorite shops, he wanted to stop by. So rather than wait in the car I went in with him. Now, it was actually pretty comical at first. There were three chevy trucks in the parking lot. Two of the guys in the store were older, fat, long bearded rednecks, and another was a cholo gangster looking guy.

But as I looked around, and saw all of the weapons, I got more and more upset. There were only a small handful of hunting rifles, it was all handguns and assault rifles. Everything in there was designed to kill people. And everyone was walking around like kids in a candy store. I just couldn't stand it anymore, I walked out and waited outside.

I said a prayer, and worried about the world. Violence is king. Luckily, I belong to a different kingdom, one of peace.

rev

From Nazarite to lex luther (a facial evolution)

I will write more about my experience in the future but I just thought I would post the pictures of my process. This is after three months of not shaving or cutting the hair.

this was me after the vow











this is me with my head shaved but a full beard, like the antagonist in Ironman.

But I like to call it the white Kimbo Slice















this is prison John, not for the feint of heart











This one is a special one for my aussie friends, it is called simply the
Merve

















and last but not least,

this one is called bow chicka bow wow

and ode to a kinder and gentler time









I will post the clean shaven pictures later today.

rev

A must read book

My friend Mark Sayers has written a book based on years of research, and keen prophetic insight. This book explores the impact of hyper reality, consumerism and globalism on our culture, and the church. I have heard Mark teach this stuff in person, and the book goes into even more detail.

Please buy this book, and buy copies for your friends.

the good ole US of A
http://www.amazon.com/Trouble-Paris-Following-Plastic-Promises/dp/0849919991

oz-straylia
http://orders.koorong.com/search/details.jhtml?code=9780849919992

you can also check out his blog and website here:

Mark Sayers
Uber: http://www.uberlife.com.au
Blog: http://marksayers.wordpress.com/

good reading

rev

Palm trees and the prsence of God

The other day I was driving home from taking my daughter to work. As is not unusual in Garden Grove, a car pulled out in front of me causing me to slow down quite a bit. I immediately became incredibly angry. What kind of idiot just pulls out in front of people.

The thing that set this event as different from every single other time this happens, (forty or fifty times a day), is that I actually stopped for a second to contemplate my anger. Was I really angry that this person was causing me to arrive at a stop light that I would wait at for a few minutes, a whole five seconds later? Was I in that much of a hurry to get to that light to sit and wait? What did I have going on at home? Nothing. Why was I being such an idiot.

It was then I remembered brother Lawrence, and the little book practicing the presence of God. Brother Lawrence simply remembered that God was with him at all times, and acted accordingly. So I started to remember God's presence, to acknowledge Him in my day to day. I was embarrassed a bit at my silly anger issues.

Then I saw a palm tree, one of those really tall skinny ones, and it was just standing dead straight. Now a few days ago we had been at the beach and the palm trees were bending back and forth quite intensely. I realized that this tree was sitting in the midst of the air, just as much as the other ones, even though it wasn't moving. And at that point I think I got a bit of God's heart for me and my sabbatical.

You see, I like to see everything. I like the torrent, the wind blowing me all over the place. I experience God in the chaos and turmoil of life. Usually grasping on to Him in the process. It is easier to see the Lord at work in those situations. In fact I think if we are truthful, many of our worship services are designed to atleast simulate these experiences. To get us swaying back and forth so we can "feel the Spirit moving". But this lone tree was standing right in the middle of the air, though you could not see its influence at all. And I think that is what I have been learning on my sabbatical. God loves me, and I am in the middle of the presence, even though I am not in the midst of the tempest right now.

Now I hesitated writing this, because people that need to get off their asses and start living the kingdom might get this message as a verification for their laziness. And those that are out there, in the toil and the dirt, might feel like they desperately need a rest and feel guilty because they cannot take one. But this was God's message to me, to recognize that God is God even when things are quiet, and slow. Maybe God's message to you today is that He is God even when your life seems to be torn apart by action, and storm, so step out into it and trust. Either way, God loves us.

rev

Gym Meat heads

I was given a gym membership by a good friend of mine. He wanted me to help him get back in shape after a back surgery. Which I was only too happy to do, and it gives me a chance to get in shape as well. I have been struggling with painful knees, ankles and hips, so being able to run on an eliptical trainer instead of the ground has helped. My daughter bought her own membership and likes to go with us to the gym.

So when we are on the cardio machines, there is a group of guys that tends to come in at the same time and lift weights below us. My daughter and I can't help but notice them. Truth is nobody in the gym can help but notice them. They grunt, and bark, and carry on. They drop the weights, and yell at each other. They attract a lot of attention.

Now the other day a friend I met at the gym was working out at the same time. He is a former professional body builder. He is much much bigger than these guys, and way stronger. He is working out by himself, and using very heavy weight. I am watching him, because he is a friend, but no one else is noticing him.

And I thought to myself, how much I am like the other group. Making lots of noise, getting noticed, acting like what I am doing is a big deal. While there are so many wonderful people that are like my friend, just quietly doing what they do, at a far greater level. I want to be more like that. I think that is what Jesus was talking about when he said not to give so others see you, and to pray in private.

Not sure what that means for my blog though :)

rev

my birthday!!!

and I don't look a day over fifty :)

big thanks to mom and dad who probably had a lot more fun making me than raising me.

Big thanks to my Raquel, Adriahna and Cheyenne for putting up with me for so many years and loving me even though I am an old, cranky curmudgeon.

And thanks to Jesus, who keeps telling me how much he loves us all, even though I struggle to believe and trust.

rev

About vows and spiritual disciplines

A friend of mine was asking about the vow I took, and shared some struggles with some spiritual disciplines in the past. I emailed him this response, which though short, and not very deep, explains things in my way of thinking:

But I wanted to talk to you about your fasting, and the spiritual disciplines in general. When we do these things, it is important for us not to look like we are somehow bargaining with God. Like, I did this so you have to then do this. This makes God into another product that we buy, not with money but with acts of devotion. It is so easy to fall into this ideology. Remember Jesus talks about the disciples fasting when he is taken from them. The best idea to remember is we do these things not to earn anything, but rather that the exercise would allow us to set our hearts aside towards a realization of Jesus, and his love, and his presence.

It is for us to abandon ourselves to God's love, this is our call. I like to think of a wife and husband relationship. Imagine if I told me wife I was not going to eat for three weeks as a way of drawing closer to her, but then used meal times to watch baseball on television, was angry and short tempered, and often reminded her of my sacrifice and accusing her of not appreciating it, or returning the favor. Not very good work there is it?

So how can we use these as ways to grow closer? If I used the time I spent at meals to really talk and pay attention to her, if I spent the time we would spend shopping on reading our old love letters to each other, if I spent the money we saved from me not eating on a new dress for her (remember we give gifts to God by giving to the poor), and if every hunger pain was a reminder that I love my wife, and like food I cannot live without her. A bit different isn't it?

I hope that helps a bit.

rev